Mrs. Hadassah Carlebach, Holocaust Survivor And Longtime Carlebach Shul Leader, Dies At 99

NEW YORK (VINnews) – Hadassah Carlebach, a longtime fixture and powerful personality at Manhattan’s Carlebach Shul whose warmth, generosity and personal connection to generations of Jews left an enduring mark on the congregation, died Sunday at 99.

For generations of congregants, Mrs. Carlebach was not simply a familiar face at the Upper West Side synagogue. She was one of its defining personalities.

Anyone who walked through the doors of the Carlebach Shul knew who Hadassah was.

She was the woman people knew, the woman people turned to and, for many, the person who made them feel that they belonged.

Her connection to the shul went back to its formative years. She was married to Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Carlebach, who co-led the congregation with his twin brother, Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach, her brother-in-law.

While Shlomo became known around the world for his music, teachings and travels, Hadassah became a deeply rooted presence in the life of the shul and the neighborhood around it.

A 2003 profile in The Jewish Week described her as a powerful voice for tradition and said that during her more active years she helped anchor the synagogue’s organizational needs, while also providing the neighborhood pastoral presence that Shlomo, because of his extensive travels, could not always provide.

Her involvement was not merely symbolic. She served for years on the shul’s board and held the position of vice president. The shul continues to list her as vice president on its board, and its records show her in that position for many years, including in 2023 and 2024. She also remained a member of the board listed for the shul’s 2025 annual election meeting.

But those who knew her say no title could adequately describe her contribution.

Yehuda Green, the longtime singer and chazzan associated with the Carlebach Shul, remembered Hadassah as a woman whose influence reached far beyond the walls of the synagogue.

“She was a fixture of the shul,” Green told VIN News. “Anyone who walked in knew who Hadassah was.”

Green recalled his own first visit to the Carlebach Shul in 1997. He had never been there before and walked in simply to see what the place was about.

Someone asked him to sing a song. Green began singing and continued for about 10 minutes.

When he finished, he began walking out.

Hadassah ran after him.

“She said to me, ‘Who are you?’” Green recalled. She then told him, “I just want to tell you, you belong in this shul.”

Green returned.

That encounter became the beginning of a decadeslong relationship with the Carlebach Shul. He went on to become one of the central musical figures associated with the congregation and its unique spiritual tradition. The shul itself describes Green as a singer whose connection to the Carlebach tradition eventually led to his becoming a central performer and prayer leader there.

For Green, that moment was quintessential Hadassah.

She had a remarkable ability to recognize people, make them feel welcome and draw them into the community.

“She saved the shul,” Green said.

“The amount of chesed she did might never be known,” he said.

Green said the evidence of her kindness can be found in the lives of the people she touched — including hundreds who, he said, remained strong in their Yiddishkeit and should be counted among her legacy.

“There are hundreds of people who remained strong in their Yiddishkeit,” Green said, “and that is to her credit.”

Green said he would not shy away from describing Hadassah as a “tzadekes of our generation,” a righteous woman whose influence was far greater than what could ever be captured in an obituary or measured by an official position.

Her chesed, he said, was often quiet and personal.

She recognized people who needed encouragement. She noticed people who were searching for a place. And she had the courage to walk over, speak to them and tell them they belonged.

For countless people, that simple act became the beginning of a lasting connection to the shul and to Yiddishkeit.

A life shaped by extraordinary circumstances

Hadassah was born into the Schneerson family and was a second cousin of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson.

Her early life was marked by the devastation of the Holocaust.

As a teenager in Europe, she worked with her father to help save Jewish children from the Nazis. In an interview with The Jewish Press, she recalled that at 16 or 17 she was placed in charge of a home where 15 children were being hidden. She described the dangers and responsibilities of helping protect Jewish children during the war.

Her experiences during those years would remain part of her identity throughout her life.

After the war, she married Rabbi Eliyahu Chaim Carlebach in 1949. The couple eventually came to the United States and settled on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

The Carlebach family became closely intertwined with the life of the synagogue that would come to bear Shlomo’s name.

Hadassah was not merely the wife of one of its rabbis or the sister-in-law of another. She became one of the people who gave the shul its human face.

Her home, warmth and personal relationships helped create the atmosphere that generations of people came to associate with the Carlebach Shul.

Even after Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach died in 1994, Hadassah remained deeply connected to the institution and to the preservation of his legacy. In a 2004 Jewish Telegraphic Agency profile marking the 10th anniversary of Shlomo’s death, she spoke about the challenge of carrying forward his legacy and the way his followers continued to draw from his teachings.

Yet Hadassah’s own legacy stood alongside that of the famous rabbi.

It was built through relationships.

Through acts of kindness.

Through conversations.

Through welcoming people who might otherwise have walked out the door.

And through generations of people who, according to those who knew her, remained connected to Yiddishkeit because Hadassah had taken the time to make them feel that they belonged.

For those who entered the Carlebach Shul over the decades, Hadassah was often among the first people they encountered and one of the people they never forgot.

Her presence became part of the shul itself.

And for the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people whose lives she touched, the full measure of that legacy may never be known.

SZS and his daughter, Hadassah Carlebach, at the celebration for her engagement to Eli Chaim Carlebach pic.twitter.com/Sgok3sMzO4

— Муся (@mycr_karenina) April 1, 2025